Thanks, but no thanks

WESTERN BUREAU:

Public Defender Arlene Harrison-Henry says her office is not interested in having prosecutorial powers, brushing aside a demand by the country's Rastafarian community.

The public defender was responding to questions from The Gleaner following a call made by members of the Rastafarian community demanding that the Government grant prosecutorial powers to her, as they are of the view that they are not being given justice by the Paula Llewellyn-led Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

“Well, we wouldn't go there with them. The law is clearly settled in relation to who has prosecutorial powers,” Harrison-Henry said.

“We have powers of investigations, and we have never made a submission to be given prosecutorial powers,” the public defender noted.

On Wednesday, members of the Rastafarian community in western Jamaica staged a peaceful demonstration in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay, where they expressed their disappointment with the ruling into the complaint brought by Nzinga King, a 19-year-old Clarendon Rastafarian who claimed her dreadlocks were cut by a policewoman while in custody.

“The DPP need to investigate the situation a little better. And we are saying the Government should strengthen the public defender, so that the public defender's office can carry out prosecution because in situation like this, we are not clear as to how INDECOM would investigate,” said Lewis Brown, treasurer of the Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolence Society.

Brown said the Rastafarian community was not in favour of the ruling made by the DPP.

He further said that there is a need for more thorough investigation into the matter, as King is not mentally challenged, as has been presumed by some.

But according to the public defender, the file containing her office's investigation into the matter is not closed. She said the pace of its investigations has to do with the limited staff that is required to effectively cover all the parameters in a timely manner.

“We are also investigating the Nzinga haircutting matter, but our resources are way less that the DPP office, way less than the police, way less than INDECOM,” the public defender said.

She said while her office has an expectation in the outcome of its investigations, she will be guarding careful their findings until the matter is fully ventilated.

“We have an expectation, but we are not giving any deadlines as to when our report is going to be ready. We not giving any indications of anything like that,” the public defender informed.

She noted that King and her mother are aware of the work the Office of the Public Defender is doing in relation to the case.

As per her encounter with police officers in the Clarendon Police Division on her last visit, Harrison-Henry is hoping that her next visit will be a better experience than previously received.

“I am also returning to the Four Paths Police Station and I just hope that on my return, I will be properly welcomed and facilitated and not have a repeat of that conduct,” she warned.

Last September, officers at the Four Paths Police Station denied access to Harrison-Henry and her team who had gone there to investigate reports lodged to her office by King's mother.

At the time, Harrison-Henry reported that she was told to write a letter seeking permission from the commissioner of police before her office could be allowed access to the jail cells in which the teen was being held.